Published: Friday, August 23, 2013 at 01:04 PM.

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Transitioning from film to digital may not be the death of drive-ins. At least, that’s what D. Edward Vogel, United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association administrative secretary, thinks. Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In owner Rick Stinnett feels differently. He believes moving from 35mm film to downloading flicks from a server to a digital projector will drive mom and pop theaters out of business.

One thing is certain: the digital conversion is happening now. It’s a matter of time before movie studios stop creating film prints altogether.

Digital opportunities: Just one drive-in shut down because of the cost to switch to digital, but that closure involved a small drive-in with no room to expand, Vogel said. At least 40 percent of drive-in theaters have converted to digital, Vogel said. “If you think outside of the box, there are a lot of things you can do with this device,” said Vogel, who also owns the BengiesDrive-In Theatre in Baltimore.

Vogel saw business go up 20 percent after converting to digital this year. Other drive-in owners reported similar profit increases, he said. Drive-in owners could get creative with what they show to bring in more customers, Vogel said. “What about showing the Super Bowl, and having the largest Super Bowl Party?” Vogel asked. Theaters could show live opera, concerts and even hook up a video game console for a larger than life gaming competition.

Digital worries: The projector that Stinnett uses to show movies at Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In Theatre is the same one purchased by his mom and dad when they opened the theater in 1949. “And everybody back then, even the cinemas back then, were independent. That’s what developed the studios,” Stinnett said. “Now it seems like they’ve turned their back on us, just demanding digital projectors.”

Getting a digital projector comes with a price, and Stinnett worries that going digital without getting help will mean he’ll have to raise his price from $10 a carload.

The price of technology: The cost of buying a digital projector isn’t the only cost to a drive-in. Stinnett expects it to cost about $100,000 to go digital. A digital projector is about $80,000, and Stinnett anticipates spending $20,000 more for installation and upgrades.

Transitioning from film to digital may not be the death of drive-ins. At least, that’s what D. Edward Vogel, United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association administrative secretary, thinks. Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In owner Rick Stinnett feels differently. He believes moving from 35mm film to downloading flicks from a server to a digital projector will drive mom and pop theaters out of business.

One thing is certain: the digital conversion is happening now. It’s a matter of time before movie studios stop creating film prints altogether.

Digital opportunities: Just one drive-in shut down because of the cost to switch to digital, but that closure involved a small drive-in with no room to expand, Vogel said. At least 40 percent of drive-in theaters have converted to digital, Vogel said. “If you think outside of the box, there are a lot of things you can do with this device,” said Vogel, who also owns the BengiesDrive-In Theatre in Baltimore.

Vogel saw business go up 20 percent after converting to digital this year. Other drive-in owners reported similar profit increases, he said. Drive-in owners could get creative with what they show to bring in more customers, Vogel said. “What about showing the Super Bowl, and having the largest Super Bowl Party?” Vogel asked. Theaters could show live opera, concerts and even hook up a video game console for a larger than life gaming competition.

Digital worries: The projector that Stinnett uses to show movies at Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In Theatre is the same one purchased by his mom and dad when they opened the theater in 1949. “And everybody back then, even the cinemas back then, were independent. That’s what developed the studios,” Stinnett said. “Now it seems like they’ve turned their back on us, just demanding digital projectors.”

Getting a digital projector comes with a price, and Stinnett worries that going digital without getting help will mean he’ll have to raise his price from $10 a carload.

The price of technology: The cost of buying a digital projector isn’t the only cost to a drive-in. Stinnett expects it to cost about $100,000 to go digital. A digital projector is about $80,000, and Stinnett anticipates spending $20,000 more for installation and upgrades.

Drive-in owners have to create a space that’s dust free, cool in the summer and warm in the winter if they install a digital projector, Vogel said. Booths will need to be remodeled to protect the digital equipment from the elements. “It’s going to be one more nail in the coffin of the little mom and pop theaters because the cost is so prohibitive,” said Dave Monahan, film studies department chairman and associate professor at UNC Wilmington.

Drive-ins had from February to April to sign up for a reimbursement program that would pay theaters back 80 percent of the cost of buying a projector if they had them up and working by the end of June. The short window of time to apply and install projectors put drive-in owners in a pinch. Vogel was able to get into that program, but he still had to come up with the money to finance that big purchase, something that’s often difficult for mom and pop drive-ins to do.

What’s behind the digital transition? Movie studios will decide when 35mm film dies. “Each studio makes its own individual business decisions about when and how they release films,” wrote Kate Bedingfield of the Motion Picture Association of America. The association doesn’t get involved in those decisions, and didn’t know when the digital transition would take place, Bedingfield wrote.

Monahan said the cost of shipping is one of the main issues with distributing film prints. “The 35 mm prints are extremely heavy so shipping costs are really heavy,” Monahan said. “35mm film prints wear out. The projection equipment is expensive. They take more maintenance and supervision.”

Just a few film labs to create those 35mm prints are still around, so it makes sense that studios would opt for technology that doesn’t involve expensive prints that eventually wear out. Digital technology has reached a point where the resolution is as good as film, with digital being able to showcase the depth of blacks, shadows and highlights.

Stinnett doesn’t want to think about what will happen if he doesn’t win a projector with Honda’s Project Drive-In. The five drive-in theaters with the most votes win digital projectors. He’s focusing his efforts on earning votes, and said he’ll decide what to do next depending on the outcome. “I regret that the studios are not taking care of the independents who started this industry,” Stinnett said. “All we want to do is just survive, that’s all we want to do.

You can reach Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or twitter.com/AmandaMemrick.

Want to help Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In Theatre win a digital projector? Go to Projectdrivein.com to cast a vote or send a text with “vote17” to 444999. Voting began Aug. 9 and ends on Sept. 9.